Reviews by BelgianBeerPope:

More User Reviews:

A) A nice brown brew with a huge 3 finger beige head reaching the top of the snifter. Decent retention... No lacing noted...

S) Woody and spicey. There is a little bit of orange peel and definitely the darker fruits such as plum. It has a bread/yeast aroma as well.

T) Pretty near the nose, nice sweetness with the dark fruits, woody, perhaps a little pipe tobacco. There was some floral hops on the backend. The alcohol sneaks up on you with some definite warmth as you move along.

M) Near full bodied, felt pretty thick. The carbonation was moderate and the feel was smooth for the most part. The finish was a little dry.

O) I sipped on this one for about 2 hours. It was pretty enjoyable, and I felt the aroma and taste improved with warmth. The alcohol was pretty well hidden for a beer at nearly 9% ABV. A pretty good dubbel... Glad to recommend...

Big spicy nose with nutmeg and allspice give way to a light touch of anise. Pours deep dense chestnut under a thick rocky 3” foam collar – root beer float quality foam producing thick icebergs that perist to the bottom of the glass and leave thick ledges of lace. A blend of clean malts, dark sugars, dark fruits such as plum and fig combined with anise and nutmeg and traces of alcohol evoke fruit cake in a glass. The finish hints at rootbeer. Very creamy with soft finely bubbled medium high carbonation, and a medium body.

#BOTG 38! And, another one of my Beer of the Month brews! They have been pretty solid so far, so hoping this one keeps up with the others!

Tonight I posted a poll to select the beer of the game from my tweeps, and this won hands down (ok, 3-1, I'm not as popular as I may lead myself to believe). So, here we go. Corked and caged bottle, 750ml. Luckily I have recruited help drinking this bottle, at 8%+ it might be an undertaking on a work night. Thanks Donald.

Popped the cork, loud pop! Poured from bottle into Chimay chalice. Note to self, buy cooler Belgian glassware. I'm pretty weak in this category, this being my only one appropriate for this style. This is a heady bastard. Even with a pretty light pour, it fills the glass about 3/4 head, 1/4 beer. When it settles, this has a really nice dark brown/red mahogany color, and the off white/tan color head leaves about 1 finger, caking along the sides of the glass like icing on a cake. Smell- dark fruits, some booze. I get raisins, prunes, and some wafts of almost a port liquor. Reminds me of the booze used in a trifle cake? Taste- booze soaked cake, prunes. But, there is a watery aspect to this. Not bad, but not usually what I'd expect out of the style. Mouthfeel is fine- no issues there. And, I wish it would hide the booze a bit better. Overall, a decent beer, I wont have a hard time finishing the bottle (esp with the help I got), but I wanted more backbone, this could have been more flavorful.

The bubbles are a tad frizzy, but to no great detriment, the body a feathery medium weight, and adequately smooth. It finishes just off-dry, the grain, yeast, alcohol, and heretofore absent nuttiness pulling things away from the expected sweet side of things.

An enjoyable enough dubbel, the various flavours all working well together, and sublimating the 'extra' booze quite thoroughly. Easy drinking, surely, when this is the case.

Served from tap into a Trappe Door tulip. Poured a massively deep red-orange with a three finger off-white head that subsided to a minimal amount slowly. Maintained phenomenal lacing throughout the glass. The aroma was comprised of sweet malt, bread, tart, sour cherries, and sour. The flavor was of sweet malt, roasted malt, sour cherries, earth, and wood. It had a light feel on the palate with mild carbonation. Overall this was a decent brew. There was something a little off-putting here as the aroma smelled like it was going to be sour/tart, but the flavor was very light and more earthy than anything else. This fact made it a little hard to enjoy for me but it was still drinkable. Glad I got the chance to try this one, but doubt I will go out of my way to next time.

Bottle: Poured a dark brown color ale with a large light brown foamy head with good retention and some lacing. Aroma of dry fruits with quite a bit of residual sugar and some Belgian biscuit malt notes. Taste is dominated by light dry fruits notes with some Belgian cookie malt and quite a bit of residual sugar. Body is full with good carbonation and no apparent alcohol. Not bad overall but lacking complexities for the style.

A: The beer is hazy dark reddish brown in color and poured with a thin beige head that left lots of lacing covering the surface.S: Moderately strong aromas of sweet candi sugars begin to develop as the beer warms up.T: The taste bears little resemblance to the smell and has flavors of dark fruits along with hints of yeast.M: It feels medium-bodied on the palate with a moderate amount of carbonation.O: This is a solid beer compared to others in the style; however the taste is a bit of a letdown after the impressive smell.

Dumpy 33cl brown bottle (best before 8th Apr 2011) poured into a Westmalle chalice on 23 Oct 2010. Some of the sediment got into the glass but it still looked good, ruby red body with an off-white head, a bit thin but still a complete covering throughout the tasting.

The aroma was a mild malty molasses mix with toffee and chocolate coming through, but not an 'in your face' sweet, sickly smell.

Interesting taste, malts dominate, semi-sweet like the aroma but with more coffee and chocolate than the toffee mentioned earlier. Not too sure where the alcohol is being hidden because this isn't a thick or heavy beer. It doesn't even seem to appear as the mouth dries and the hop content leaves a slightly bitter dark chocolate aftertaste in the mouth.

A very drinkable brew although I'm sure the alcohol would come back and get you in the end if you had more than a couple.

Poured from 750 mL bottle into snifter.A: Pours a nice super dark caramel with 2-3 inch light tan tan. Excellent retention. Nice lingering lacing that lasts, and lasts, and lasts...S: Belgian spice, fresh bready yeast, mild raisin and other dark dried fruit, and a hint of banana and clove. Solid, but not too special.T: Follows aroma to a tee, but a bit weaker. Some caramel malt emerges with warming.M: Light-medium body...a bit light for style. Smooth and slightly sticky sweet.D: A decent offering, but not great for style. Wish it had a bit more body and fullness. Definitely has potential with some tweaking.

Served in a nonic glass. Glass of cold water on the side to sip from periodically.

Appearance: As served the beer is lightly hazed reddish brown color with a 1/16” light tan head that leaves a moderate amount of lacing on the glass as it soon recedes.

Smell: The aroma is mostly dark caramel and dark fruits with touches of spices.

Taste: The sweetness in the flavor is more like brown sugar than caramel and there is a mélange of fruits with no particular one standing out. The yeast is clearly Belgian. Neither the hops nor the alcohol are prominent in any way.

Mouthfeel: The mouth feel is medium bodied with light carbonation. The finish is medium in length and shows both a bit of sweetness and some bready character, finishing with a touch of bitterness and dryness.

Drinkability and Overall Impression: I’ve enjoyed sipping my way through this one. While I don’t really think it is outstanding, my overall impression is that this is a good workman like beer that is indeed a good choice for sipping during dinner and an evening with friends.